Nick Leeson

In 1995NickLeeson caused the previously unbesmirched Barings Bank to go into receivership. Trading out of Singapore, Leeson used a complex series of deceptions to hide losses he had made. As the losses became progressively worse, his deceptions became bolder, until he was eventually discovered.

At the time, all sorts of peculiar motivations were ascribed to Nick. One of the most intriguing I came across was that he was acting on behalf and an anti-capitalistanarchic movement based in the U.S. The theory was that Nick had intentionally destabilised Barings bank in order to demonstrate the pointlessness of greed.